Münnich win, Boutsen Ginion lose Slovakia appeals

Münnich Motorsport has won its appeal again exclusion from the Slovakian round of the World Touring Car Cup two months’ ago, while the Boutsen Ginion team has lost its appeal, with drivers Benjamin Lessennes and Tom Coronel losing their results from the second and third races.

The two teams had filed an appeal against the stewards’ decisions, which ruled their cars weren’t in compliance with the boost levels established in the Balance of Performance (BoP) document released ahead of the weekend.

The two Honda teams’ exclusion followed a similar incident for the two Hyundai teams a day earlier, with the YMR Hyundais of Yvan Muller and Thed Björk excluded from the first qualifying session along with BRC Racing Team’s Norbert Michelisz, and sent to the back of the grid, while Gabriele Tarquini went on to start from pole position and finish third.

The two Honda teams were also found non-compliant less than 24 hours later after the first qualifying session, but protested the exclusion and were allowed to start from their grid positions, with the basis of the appeal being that the FIA posted BoP chart was not compliant with the FIA WTCR sporting regulations, as it had not been signed off by the TCR promoter WSC Ltd.

The teams’ case stated: “The FIA’s new balance of performance table (the “BoP Chart”) does not apply as it has not been agreed with WSC (the owner of the TCR concept and trademark), and cannot be used by the Technical Delegates and by the Stewards to assess the Competitors’ cars’ conformity with the regulations
applying to the Competition.”

They also claimed: “The FIA’s New BoP Chart has not been published by the Stewards as expressly required by the 2018 WTCR Sporting Regulations; Alternatively, the applicable BoP Chart was/is not clear, and its application was not possible for the Competitors and therefore it was unfair and/or disproportionate to disqualify them.”

The FIA International Court Of Appeal convened in Paris on Monday 17th September to hear the appeal, and has now delivered it verdict, confirming that the FIA-published BoP was not valid, and so the cars only needed to have respected the TCR BoP boost levels.

The FIA decision confirmed that the sporting regulations clearly stated: “These Technical specifications are subject to revision after further analysis based on race performance and decided by the FIA and WSC Ltd.”

And recognised that: “FIA/WSC reserves the right to take further measures in order to guarantee proper BoP. Lastly, Article 3.1 of the 2018 TCR regulations provides that the role of WSC is notably to “ensure the BoP at the start of any TCR Competition and take all necessary decision to keep it through the season. WSC will release the 1st official BoP and will communicate it to any TCR Promoter before the Competitions start. All WSC decisions regarding the regulations will be communicated by means of Notifications and Technical Bulletins.”

“These regulations thus provide, in a consistent manner, that WSC must take part in the decision-making process for the publication of new BoP limits.”

That being said, the Boutsen Ginion Racing Hondas were still found guilty of having exceeded the official maximum engine speed, so their appeal was subsequently rejected, with the cars technically non-compliant. The Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR of Esteban Guerrieri was found to be compliant as it had only been found having exceeded the FIA-published boost limit, and so retains his result from Race 2, now promoted to eighth following the exclusion of fifth-placed Lessennes.

Boutsen Ginion Racing and the FIA will share the costs of the hearing, while Münnich Motorsport have had their deposit refunded and don’t need to pay the court costs.

Tom Coronel also loses his eighth-place finish from Race 3, while the championship position is only slightly affected, with the other Münnich Honda of Yann Ehrlacher, not found guilty of exceeding either boost limit, promoted to ninth in Race 2 and gaining one point in the standings, and is now just 30 points behind championship leader Gabriele Tarquini.

YMR’s Thed Björk has also gained a point after being promoted to tenth in Race 2 and is now just 37 points behind Tarquini, sixth in the standings and a single point behind Team WRT Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay.

The biggest gainer was BRC Racing Team’s Norbert Michelisz, who gains two more points and is now just 24 points behind team-mate Tarquini, third in the standings heading into this weekend’s round of the championship at Ningbo International Speedpark in China.